By JACOB GERSHMAN

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday stepped away from a pair of politically sensitive investigations into allegations of unethical and criminal conduct by Gov. David Paterson, turning over the probes to an independent counsel.

While saying the allegations against Mr. Paterson warranted further review, Mr. Cuomo, a likely Democratic candidate for governor, said he was concerned that a politically charged atmosphere would cast a shadow over conclusions drawn by his office. As a result, he said, he decided to recuse himself and hand responsibility for completing the investigations to the state’s former chief judge, Judith Kaye.

Ms. Kaye joined the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom a year ago after stepping down as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Appointed by Andrew Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Ms. Kaye was the first woman to serve on the state’s highest court. Mr. Paterson’s lawyer, Theodore Wells Jr., said the governor would cooperate with Ms. Kaye.

Mr. Cuomo, who said his office has already interviewed dozens of witnesses in the probes, said he did not have a “technical conflict,” but said the “ferocity of politics in New York” compelled him to step aside. “Even the appearance of a conflict, even the appearance of a political interest can be damaging,” Mr. Cuomo told reporters.

On Feb. 24, Mr. Paterson asked Mr. Cuomo to investigate allegations that he and the state police had attempted to exert influence over a woman who had been seeking a protection order against a senior official in the administration.The woman, who accused the aide, David Johnson, of assaulting her at a Bronx apartment on Oct. 31, allowed her case to be dropped the day after speaking with the governor.

Last week, Mr. Cuomo began a probe of another scandal confronting the governor, after a state ethics body accused Mr. Paterson of violating a ban on gifts by accepting free World Series tickets.

The ethics commission, which said it had a reasonable cause to believe that Mr. Paterson submitted a backdated check to pay for the Yankees tickets after the New York Post inquired about the tickets, asked Mr. Cuomo’s office and the Albany County district attorney to determine whether Mr. Paterson committed a crime by giving false statements under oath.

“It removes any hint that there will be any political consideration. People will feel much better about the outcome, whatever it is,” said Carl McCall, a former state comptroller, of Mr. Cuomo’s recusal. “People sympathetic to the governor have overlooked the fact that Governor Paterson asked Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to conduct the investigations.”

Mr. Cuomo’s review of the allegations appears to have hurt his popularity. A poll released on Tuesday found that Mr. Cuomo’s approval rating among New York voters had dropped 13 percentage points to 54% in a week. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, suffered a decline of 22 points among nonwhite voters in New York, according to the Marist Poll.

Since retiring from the court, Ms. Kaye has become something of an arbiter of political controversy in New York. Last year, the Working Families Party, after questions were raised about its compliance with campaign finance laws, hired Ms. Kaye to conduct a review of its finances. Ms. Kaye and her firm also led an outside review of the scandal-troubled men’s basketball program of Binghamton University at the State University of New York. SUNY’s research foundation paid more than $900,000 for the legal service provided by the firm.

Mr. Paterson last year also appointed Ms. Kaye to a state judicial panel that recommends judicial candidates to the Court of Appeals.

After questions about the governor’s conduct first emerged last month in a report in the New York Times, the top two officials in the state police have resigned. Mr. Paterson’s communications director and a security adviser have also quit their posts.

Under pressure to resign by some Democrats, Mr. Paterson, the state’s first African-American governor, abandoned his gubernatorial campaign but has refused to step down. While claiming innocence, Mr. Paterson has declined to specifically address questions about the domestic-abuse case. Allies of Mr. Paterson in Harlem have also resisted calls for him to resign and hand over power to his lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch.